As the seventh month dies
by thai.khue
Summary: On his first birthday in the care of his foster father, Harry drives every piece of the man home. A one-shot prequel to "Ella".


**Author's note**

 _Thank you for dropping by. I hope you enjoy. Your reviews are welcome and cherished, always ;)_

o0o

Severus closes the lab door behind him and quietly walks upstairs, heading towards his old bedroom.

Life has gone a long way from making sure the brat is not sneaking out of bed to making sure the not so intolerable child is properly tucked in and sleeping well. Whichever the case, it is now a routine that he drop by his old bedroom before proceeding to his current bedroom every night.

As he pushes the door ajar, he frowns at the beams of light inside the room. Some very irritating kind of light. It takes him one second to register what is actually going on.

In the dim light of his wand, the miniature copy of James Potter is lying on his stomach, breathing evenly, glasses flinging between his face and the mattress, the blanket miles away from where it belongs. One of his hands is resting on a piece of parchment.

That is where the irritating light comes from. Severus steps closer to take a look.

The piece of parchment bears a clumpsy drawing of a birthday cake, on top of which are several candles with magically dancing flames. The magic is clumpsy too, for the record.

Suddenly, a series of little beep sound rings from somewhere on the night stand. As a result, the boy briskly wakes up and in one movement puts his glasses in place and grabs the wand besides him. Sticking his tongue out, he taps the wand on the drawing. All of the candles are magically blown out.

"I wish... one day, I will be able to come to visit my parents' graves."

Everything falls into a silent pause before Severus' voice crawls in:

"Happy birthday."

The boy almost jumps to his feet. Turning around to see Severus standing right next to his bed, expressionless as ever, he pales:

"I... I am sorry, sir. I just..."

"I believe your bedtime is a few hours ago."

"I'm sorry, sir, I did sleep on time... I jus woke up to..."

He flushes and appears to be embarrassing himself into silence.

"Lie down and get back to sleep now."

"Yes... sir..."

A little surge of guilt slows down Severus' steps as he closes the door. He might very well have scared the poor birthday boy into sleeplessness. Perhaps he derserves a softer state of nerves in his birthday night...?

There is a thing called helplessness, however.

The next morning, guilt sweeps through him again when the boy indeed appears to be scared to no end. Severus' mind works busily. After breakfast, he tries all his best to produce the softest voice he ever can:

"I believe the extraordinary number of owl posts waiting for you in the living room do include your birthday gifts."

Catching the split second the boy's face brights up, he continues:

"I suggest you bring them to your room now. And then change your clothes; we are going out."

He successfully prevents himself from adding warnings about keeping the gifts organized. The boy blinks:

"Where are we going, sir?"

"Do as you are told."

He fights back a heavy sigh as the boy shuts his mouth and obediently does as he is told, his head dropped between his shoulders.

Severus' stomach twists the moment they appear from thin air in Godric's Hollow. He walks in absolute silence towards the cemetery at the other end of the road, followed by the brisk steps of a confused little boy. Once they stop in front of the graves, the boy's jaw drops.

Severus doesn't know how long has passed before the boy starts to move. Seeming to completely forget about the man behind him, he looks around in search of something. Once he finds it, he slowly approaches it.

The boy, the spawn of James Potter, the Heir of the Potter house, kneels down to gently gather the wild flowers growing under the cemetery fence. Then, holding the bunch with all the care he possesses, he walks back to the graves and lays it down.

Just as Severus believes his heart can't be smashed into pieces any further, the boy comes close to the gravestones, and in a movement he fails to fight back, he pulls them into a hug while tears silently roll down his cheeks.

Not until the sun marks midday does Severus wipes away his own tears and bends over to grasp the child's hand:

"I will bring you back here any time. Just let me know when you want. Now we should go."

Several minutes later, the boy finally releases his hug and lets Severus stands him up. They walk away but his head doesn't cease to turn backwards.

"We will be back. Whenever you want."

"Thank you, sir," the boy speaks up quietly. "I wish you will bring me here once a year... once a year is enough..."

"Any time, as often as you feel like. Am I clear?"

Emerald eyes reflect the summer sunlight while on the face of the birthday boy, a smile spreads.

Sometimes one can try their best yet still fails to manage what they want; sometimes things happen on their own without any effort.

Severus makes way to his old bedroom much earlier than he has been. Pushing the door open, he sees all things well in place, the new birthday gifts in order on the shelf, and a little boy perfectly ready for bed.

Severus sits down on the edge of the bed and hands out the book he has been keeping since the morning:

"This is for your birthday."

"Thank you sir," the boy beams. "But you don't have to... You already took me to visit my parents' graves..."

"Keep it."

"Thank you, sir."

Severus raises an eyebrow as he notices the boy has fallen into a pause. After a few seconds of what seems to be deep thinking, he rises his eyes to meet Severus':

"Sir?"

"What?"

"Do you miss my mum?"

Severus narrows his eyes, completely striken.

"You look sad after we visited the cemetery."

Severus is still at loss of words when the boy reaches for the nightstand. He picks up a photo from there and gives it to the man:

"When you showed me your photos with my mum when you were children, you said you don't have any photo of her when she had grown up... I just think you would like one... it might make you feel happy."

Severus eyes the photo, where Lily is holding her baby with the brightest smile he has ever seen.

"I don't have any photo of her alone... I just have this one. There is me, but I hope you don't mind."

Once again after an eternity, Severus Snape is smiling; and for the very first time since he scratched his signature onto a certain piece of parchment, his child has the nerves to throw himself into his hug.


End file.
